'Progress'

No horse makes progress the same way. There's no magic program to follow. No 'wiki-how' step by step guide. Some pick up everything easily and take everything in stride. Others need to learn lessons more than once. Still others learn quickly but don't get confident and so they need their hands held for a long time. It's one of the reasons training horses stays exciting. Each horse is different and each horse can be different on each day.

Since I've been riding Elliot, progress has been basically linear. He was not always confident in the beginning but he nevertheless took forward steps. He ran beginner novice. Then he ran novice. Then he ran training and then preliminary. We had a brief disruption when he strained a tendon and had colic surgery, but for the most part, we made 'progress'.

Last season he ran around a bunch of tough intermediates and a CIC2. AECs was the first blip on the radar. It was followed closely by the Fair Hill debacle. After a little winter down time, this season has been rocky. We got eliminated at Rocking Horse I, dropped to preliminary for Ocala II but still had a couple stops on cross country, and had a couple stops on the intermediate cross country at Rocking Horse III. Not progress.

Who really knows what caused the back slide. Was he ulcery? Was he sore somewhere? Or maybe he was weak? Did he lose confidence after carting me around all those intermediates last season? Were the holes in our training starting to show up? Or did we just lose our mojo after a silly mistake at AECs, getting foiled at Fair Hill, and then a lot of down time to stew about it? I don't really have an answer.

The plan for this season was to move up to Advanced in Florida. I wish that had happened, but it didn't. I'm sorry we have holes or lost mojo or whatever you want to call it, but I'm happy to be fixing the issues now rather than having them show up next year while we're trying to get qualified for something really big like Rolex. The horse is still very special and he's young. He's not lame. He looks great right now and he is fitter and getting stronger than ever. Maybe the setback was good. More training. More preparation. Another season of intermediate will only make him better. We can plan to move up in the fall.

Progress with horses isn't always linear. As my dad reminded me today, it isn't even always 'progress'. You just keep moving.

Read More

Unbelievable

I just realized that it's only been a year since Smellie ran his first event after the colic surgery. I missed the one year mark of his surgery. It seems so long ago now.

I remember that day so vividly. Betsy and I went to the farm and Smellie looked fine. He was out in the paddock with Warren. Head down. Grazing away. Within 15 minutes I couldn't keep him on his feet. I don't know why we had the client's trailer hooked up, but we did. I rode in the back with Elliot while Betsy drove. I had to hit him with the dressage whip to keep him up. We got to the vet school which was thankfully only 5 minutes down the road. I could hear Betsy arguing with the intercom about opening the gate. I assume they were asking for a gate pass, but all I heard was Betsy say 'I have a very sick horse in the back. I don't have time for this. Either you open the gate, or I'm ramming it.' Off we rolled. When we got him off the trailer, they did a bunch of tests. They couldn't keep him comfortable even with some pretty serious sedation every 15 minutes. I don't really know what happened, but I was in the trailer's living quarters and I remember Betsy walking in and saying 'I told them to cut him'. I'm glad she was there. I was a total wreck.

He spent four hours on the table. Betsy and I watched the entire time. At that point I had cried as much as I could and it all seemed so surreal anyway. I remember poor Dr. Mochal up to her elbows in Elliot for hours. I remember her looking for something as she was closing him up. We joked at the time that she was worried she might have have lost a tool inside Smellie. Turns out she was, but she didn't. He wouldn't be here without Dr. Cate Mochal and her team. I cannot thank them enough.

After six months of recovering, we did the novice at Poplar Place in June 2012. Smellie was so naughty! He was wound for sound in the dressage and scored a forty something. Worse even, he ran backwards from the show jumps from way out. Like WAY out. We racked up 12 time faults in the show jumping despite not having any jump penalties. When he did get there, he was running away with me and ran past the distances and jumped poorly.

It's a little less than 15 months later and Elliot is running Intermediate successfully. He scores mid 30s to low 40s in the dressage. He's jumping the snot out of the fences and well. He's qualified for the CCI2 at Fairhill in the fall, and he is just so much fun! I cannot believe it.

Read More

Mostly I Just Admire Elliot

I don't always order photos from the events, though I definitely enjoy looking at the pictures over and over and over. And then one more time for good measure. I like to scrutinize my position and see how I can improve, but mostly I like to admire Elliot. I'm still so blown away with him every day.

Brant Gamma was the photographer at Millbrook. She took some fabulous pictures! I couldn't help but get these two. Smellie makes it look pretty easy.

Yes. I am still crazy horse obsessed. Guess some girls just don't grown out of that stage. I'm okay with it.

Read More

On Top of the World

There is a song by Imagine Dragons called 'On top of the World' that pretty much describes my outlook at the moment. The refrain goes like this:

...
I'm on top of the world, 'ay
'Waiting for this for a while now,
Paying my dues to the dirt
I've been waiting to smile, 'ay
Been holding it in for awhile, 'ay
Take it with me if I can,
Been dreaming of this since a child
I'm on top of the world
...
We've been up in MA for exactly a month today, and it has been quite a trip. Poor Betsy fell off and broke her tail bone day three of our trip so I know she has been feeling a little low and frustrated, but Smellie and I have made great progress in this short time!

We have had a chance to work with Stephie Baer and Bobby Costello. We've done some great galloping on the terrain up here. We've had some good competition, ran around some super courses, and generally got more education and confidence. These are all the things you hope to get from a training session!

Millbrook was the culmination of it all, and Smellie was a star! I'm happy to say we are not officially qualified for the CCI2 at Fair Hill! This was the ultimate goal. We came, we saw, we conquered!

Dressage went well. Elliot was very rideable. The lateral work and counter canters are getting much stronger. I, in what seems to be becoming a habit, forgot the last movement in the test thus incurring an error. Even still, we finished with an even 40. It would have been nice to have another intermediate test in the 30s (I think I calculated it being a 39.something without the error), but serves me right for being kind of casual about learning the test. Need more practice in the large arena. Must set on up at home!

Cross country was glorious. I'm very glad we got the chance to run around another big course, especially on with a lot of terrain. We don't have many hills down south so it's good education to play up here. The intermediate course was actually causing significant trouble. The water in particular caught out a number of combinations. It was a brush log/drop in, six strides to a narrow/low beaver, two strides to a big brushed out chevron. If you didn't jump in pretty much lined up the chevron and pushing for the out, it was easy to glance off and there wasn't really a good way to get back at it, nor was there an option. I was lucky Elliot is as honest as he is because I jumped in a little too settled and he had to reach for the chevron to make it work.


The course had some other good questions too: a big, right pointed corner turning to a log, a proper coffin, and a serious slide that made me stomach drop every time I came to the edge of it on foot. The pictures do not do it justice. Think Man From Snowy River.

Elliot ran around like it was a pony trials. I still feel like we're new to the level, but I he's actually pretty educated now with four intermediates and a CIC2 under his belt.

Show jump, which is often my difficult phase, was great! I had a super warm up, and went into the ring with a lot of confidence. I had two rails because I was a little slow with rebalancing at the end of the course, but I am still extremely happy. Elliot jumped the snot out of everything, and I rode instead of just leaving it up to chance!

Bobby Costello came up to me after my round and said that Elliot was spectacular and if I can just chill out in there I would never had a rail. He's right. Elliot didn't have any rails. They were all mine. Still, I'm flattered. Bobby didn't have to say that and he certainly wasn't handing out compliments to some of the other riders he watched.

I cannot believe the month has gone by so quickly. I'm sad to be heading back to Mississippi, though it will be nice to be home and see everyone we've been missing down there. And of course there won't be much time for being sad. The next couple months are going to be full of preparing for AECs and Fair Hills. Bring it on!

Read More

Thank you Stephie

For those of you who really know Stephie Baer, you know that she is kind, generous, a tremendously hard worker, and a phenomenal horse woman, rider, and teacher. I have been very lucky to work closely with Stephie for many years. I'm not sure she has any idea what an impact she has had on me both in the riding and my life, and I'm also not sure I can ever thank her enough for all that she has done for me.

The past few weeks has been no different.

Stephie is a busy lady. Before we even came up she was working her butt off, but she still made teaching me and Elliot a priority. If you ask her, she will tell you that she did not do as much as she would have liked and that she wasn't much help at all. Those of you who know Stephie can probably picture her response in a typical self deprecating, Stephie manner; you will also know not to listen to her.

It has been Smellie and Jessie boot camp. Stephie has worked hard on the details of my flat work. We're getting more bend through the shoulder-in and haunches-in, more suppleness and balance through the counter canter, more push through the lengthens, and in general more bounce per ounce! You cannot fix it all in one month, but I have much better insight into how Elliot should be going and how to get him there.

As I've mentioned, show jumping is a difficult phase for me. It is not because my horse isn't careful or I do not have feel or I don't know how to ride (though sometimes you may here me say that in a low moment). It is a mental block. I panic so to speak.

Stephie has been very patient with me. She made me jump some big courses (even in the pouring rain) and stuck with me despite some minor melt downs. It goes beyond drilling the riding part. She understands my own brain and helps me work through the mental portion as well.

I can say with great confidence, her hard work paid off!

At Millbrook, I found myself half halting and re-balancing with my leg and seat and then riding up to the base of the jumps to Elliot can show everyone how spectacular he really is. I felt good about going into the show jump ring for the first time in a long time. I was on fire, and despite two rails, due to a minor relapse into passenger status, I had a beautiful, well ridden round (good enough even for Bobby Costello to even come over an compliment me).

Just like the flat, it's not something that can get fixed in a month. Perhaps if I stayed for another six we could get every wrinkle ironed out or at least worked on. However, I have to head back south again. Life doesn't stop just because I finally feel like I'm making progress, but I feel rejuvenated. I'm out of the rut that sometimes happens when you work in your own small world for too long. I have a plan and a better understanding of what I should be striving to feel.

I guess this is all to say thank you Stephie Baer. Everyone in Area I should take advantage of having Stephie in their back yard. She is truly on of the greats of this sport (despite what she has may say about it). I don't know where I'd be without her!

Read More

Just Happy to be Nominated

It's always good when you show up to a three day with your horse's leg pressure wrapped above the knee.


After the week leading up to the CIC2, I was just happy to be get there and pass the jog.


I rode Elliot at Chatt Hills Thursday Evening and he felt much as you might expect after running through a three board fence, getting cellulitis, not being ridden for a week, and then being on the trailer for six hours. He was wound up and crooked.

I did not have high hopes for the dressage. I wasn't even sure I really knew my test. I held off really learning it because I thought it might be the kiss of death. My warped, superstitious logic: 'If I learned my test, Elliot was certain not to come sound. If I didn't learn the test, I would have a sound horse, but probably forget the test all over the place'. It was a chance I was willing to take.

My goal was to score under 75 in order that the weekend could be a qualifier for Fair Hill in the fall. My secondary goal was to finish in the top half.

Elliot warmed up reasonably well, and then put in a solid test considering the circumstances. He was not elastic like he had been at Poplar Place a few weekends before, and the canter was disjointed. However, we muddled through. He was not last by any means, AND we got our qualifying score: 67.80!

CHC International was trying to make quite a spectacle in order to draw more of the general public. They had the international levels jumping under spotlights late in the evening the same day as dressage.

The time between Dressage and SJ was good. We had a chance to have Dougie Hannum work on Elliot. Doug worked his magic and made him more comfortable. It was also reassuring to have someone as knowledgeable as Doug tell me that Smellie was okay to run. He basically said 'treat him like a horse'; continue icing and keeping an eye on him. So we did.

I was lucky to go around on Heidi, who was brilliant, first. By the time Elliot went, it was dark and the spotlights only put off so much light. Plus, we had never jumped under lights and I was feeling especially rattled since I had not jumped him since Poplar Place two weeks before. He was brilliant. I had two rails. Elliot was a star. When I learn to show jump, we'll be unbeatable!

It rained all night long, which was not the end of the world. The ground was firm the day before so a little rain would only make it better. I didn't go until later in the afternoon, so I got up early and walked around course a couple times. I decided not even to wheel it. I am still green at this level, and Elliot was only there to jump around some tough questions and come home safe and sound. There were some big old tables on the course. There were also some big old skinnies on the course including two impressive corners as the out of combinations.

Going late in the division is sometimes a blessing, but sometimes a curse. As out time got closer, I listened to all the people, many of them combinations with more experience than me, who were having trouble on cross country. This was compounded with the fact that I was already nervous, and the rain over night made the warm up deep. I was struggling to find a distance. Kyle Carter made a remark to Betsy about setting up a grid for me to help me find a distance. I'm sure he meant it as a jest, but as one of our 8 year old students says 'some jokes are not funny'. I didn't need help to know I was missing all over the place.


I had talked with Betsy before and we both decided if Elliot didn't feel like he was taking me to the jumps or he had a couple stops on course, I would call it a day. It is always better to listen to you horse. Save him for another day.

We got into the box and the rest was history.


Elliot cantered around a big, imposing 2* XC that was giving other, more experience pairs trouble like he had been doing it his whole life. He jumped through those corners I had been sweating no problem. He saved me when I missed. He even ran straight as an arrow after I saw a shoe fly by us at the second water (a bit like having your hub cap pass you on the highway).

We got our qualifier and we finished in the top half (even if just barely). Everyone thinks their horse is amazing, but mine really is. He's got a lot of talent, but more importantly he's got a lot of heart.

Read More

Struggle City

Any one who knows me or Smellie probably has heard (and probably has heard ad naseum) about Elliot's tough road to the CHC International Two Star. However, in an effort to document Team Smellie's entire journey (and for those of you who missed this epsiode, I'm laying it all out here too!

Our goal is to qualify for the Fair Hill CCI2 this fall. To do that, we need two Intermediate HT with NQRs and either one CCI1 and a CIC2 with NQRs or two CIC2 with NQR. Since we just moved up to the intermediate level, we wanted to get a jump on the FEI qualifications in case we ran into trouble. There are not as many FEI qualifiers as horse trials.

In our usual tardy RBF fashion, we entered Chatt Hills late. Rick Dunkerton is a saint and got us in. No sooner did I receive an email that I was accepted into Chatt Hills, than Elliot ran through a three board fence and banged himself up.


We rushed out to the farm found that in fact, he was not putting weight on his left hind, though the leg itself looked pretty good. After a full body scan, we discovered a skinned and bruised left stifle, a 2" puncture on the left front, and a big old lump on the right front cannon bone. Also never good to have a one legged horse the week before a FEI event.

FEI is very strict about what substances are allowed and now allowed. Basically, their zero tolerance policy, means that your horse cannot have any type of substance in its system. This means you have to know all the drugs withdrawl times and not use them within that window before an FEI event. Otherwise your horse will test positive and then you will be in big trouble. And for thorse wondering, the FEI controlled substances list is vast.

These rules meant we had to be very careful about what we gave poor Elliot. In the end, we decided not to give him much. We iced 4-5 times the day, cleaned him up, flushed his puncture, wrapped, hand walked, and gave him arnica.

By the end of the day, he was walking much better and feeling comfortable. We all took a sigh of relief.

However, it was a little too soon.


The next morning, the left front which had the punture was swollen and very senative to the touch. By midday he was very lame even at the walk on it, despite icing, flushing, and wrapping. After talking at length to two vets (both of whom believed it was cellultis and did not inferere with the joint or tendon), we started him on IV antibiotics, continued icing it, and sweat wrapped the leg. He was very uncomfortable, but Betsy and I thought if we can just make it to tomorrow, the antibiotics will kick in and he will feel much better. It was a long night. We stayed with him until about 3AM icing and keeping an eye on his vitals. The last thing we needed was for him to colic on top of the cellultis.


Thank heavens it paid off! And for all the flac we give him, Elliot is one tough man. He never stopped drinking or eating, despite having to hobble around his stall.

By morning, he was already walking better, and everyday through the week that followed he continued to visibly improve.


It was very close. I rode him for the first time on Tuesday. It amounted to an hour walk with a little trotting at the end. He felt stiff at the beginning, but warmed up to feel pretty okay. Wednesday we did the same thing with a little more real work. He was better still.

By Thursday AM he was trotting sound. We made the decision to take him even though we knew we were pushing him.

Read More

Legit

We ran our second Intermediate horse trials at Poplar Place last weekend. My goal was to have another solid cross country round before we head off to the CIC 2* at Chatt Hills in a couple weeks. River Glen was spectacular, but getting around one event makes you lucky; two makes you legit.

Elliot was on form! He put in a stellar dressage test. Getting more and more rid-able every day. All the hard work at home is definitely paying off. Sandy Osborn gave us a 37.60 which put us in 4th our of 21! I was over the moon!


It was pouring down rain all day Saturday. We're talking where's the arc. Warm up for SJ was miserable and the footing was getting deeper and deeper with every ride. I was the weakest link. I let our placing after dressage, the big intermediate fences, and the weather get to me. I forgot my turn to fence three an incurred 4 penalties for a technical refusal. Then had a couple rails trying to race the clock. It was a disappointing way to throw away fourth place, but I have to say I was also so happy to get around a course that was causing some more seasoned horses trouble.


I was a little worried about the cross country footing after the deluge on Saturday. After much hemming and hawing Betsy and I decided to run Smellie slow so that we had another good gallop and another run before attempting a 2*. I walked the course Sunday morning and found a four leaf clover. He ran around that course and made it feel easy. We both had a couple green moments, but ran safe and solid and came away a more educate pair. Corners, tables, angled tables, skinnies, his first sunken road!

We ended up finishing 7th of 21 including a number of seasoned advanced horses. Elliot is getting better and better. We're feeling very good about the CIC 2* at Chatt coming up!

Read More

The Big Stuff

This winter while we were in Ocala, a warm up steward asked me if I was there for the big stuff. I was running preliminary an it was the highest I had ever competed so for me it WAS the big stuff! I told the steward "yes". Turns out I was not doing the real big stuff and it was a little embarrassing.

However, as of last weekend, I am now doing the big stuff! Elliot and I finished our first intermediate at River Glen Equestrian Park. He was phenomenal and as a bonus, we finished 3rd. Elliot not only jumped around the SJ, my personal monster under the bed, with only one rail, but ran around the XC like a pro. The course had a number of elements he had never seen, but he took them all in stride. Literally! He had to jump a corner to corner, run down a slide to a skinny, drop off a double bounce bank, and hop into the water over a log bounce bank.

He is a very special horse and he loves his job. I cannot wait for what is to come!

Read More